Pro video blog…Produced by Philip Johnston DoP/Editor

90

I read in Broadcast Film&Video that Primera Technology a company that sells DVD burners had produced a poll that 94% of video producers still deliver output on DVDs.

I decided to do my own poll to find a very similar percentage (90%) still rely on DVDs to hand out to customers.

The 10% was internet and USB media sticks but this method was mainly for client approval.

Adobe obviously did not bother to run such a poll when they decided to drop Encore last year, Apple being Apple dropped DVD Studio many years ago but you can still make basic DVDs in FCPX which is better than nothing.

This is a bit like 4K in reverse, everyone is being pushed into thinking 4K is the way forward forgetting most people don’t have the workflow to cope with such big files.

There is a rumour that Sony can easily adapt Blu-ray to record 4K because they badly need a platform for people to record 4K onto, especially consumers.

surfing

Lets remember the internet as it stands is mainly used by surfers who do not want to spend their precious lunchtimes watching videos longer than about 2mins.

That brings me back to DVD’s, their popularity has evolved from ease of use and higher quality than the obsolete VHS/Betamax format’s, consumers like it or not have grown up with DVD’s as have their children, in fact most younger children watch DVD’s as a pacifier.

filming

Children’s dance shows are still being recorded all over the UK with 2-3 cameras, edited and produced onto DVD, there is no other method of delivery that exceeds the DVD for dance and theatre work.

DVD delivery in the central belt of Scotland is a massive 90%, you only have to ask the wholesalers who send out boxes of DVD’s in a regular basis to confirm this.

The end user is still reliant on DVD, like it or not, if you do not work for the general public there is a chance your DVD delivery is almost nil, local authorities are pushing all their video work online to save the cost of sending out DVDs, but many of my corporate clients are still happier with a “hard copy” on DVD.

author

Having been working in the video business since 1988 I have amassed a great amount of knowledge of both the kit and production values over the last 30 years.

6 thoughts on “90% of Scottish video producers filming theatre work still deliver on DVD

  1. Yup – friends in the wedding industry concur completely. I and my colleagues, OTOH, appear to be outliers. Maybe because we’re all B2B rather than B2C? Mainly to do with most of our edited work being less than 5 mins? I’ve delivered 1 BluRay project in the past 24 months. I haven’t done a serious DVD project in 3 years.

    For us, everything is delivered electronically: deliverables are usually: a YouTube ready 1080p, a WMV at 720p for PowerPoint, and a 640×360 WMV or FLV (usually at very low bitrate).

    Now, taking into consideration encoding time, the cost of running a fast internet connection and a file sharing service, versus the cost of encoding for DVD, burning, and the trips to the Post Office, I’m not sure if there’s a huge financial saving. As far as workflow’s concerned, colour me electronic, through and through.

  2. From 2000, I started doing “wedding videos” for a living.The finished film being on VHS tape at that time. Not long after, DVD came in with another change of video cameras and editing equipment to give the client a DVD. A few years later I decided to stop doing weddings and looked for things I wanted to film…. I was using Casablanca editing machines and finally bought the S2000 machine, that does HD editing AND could burn a HD (Blu-Ray disc) within the machine itself. To cut short my now rambling…I have not used the Casablanca, nor produced a Blu-Ray disc. People are, as already said, using other ways to view films etc etc. I assume the longer “wedding video” is still produced to DVD. Personally, I still can’t understand the need for people to get 4K (or even 8K shortly) when the vast majority of the public didn’t even get S-VHS video recorders at the time of video tape. It looks like the only people interested in the much higher quality cameras and equipment of now, are people who actually film events/functions, just so we can look good with our Hi-tech gear and have a high quality film should the client wish ….. but look at what people watch on small screened mobile phones, the quality of (some) You Tube and even the professional transmitted reports from far off/dangerous lands with crappy pictures…. so, previous comment maker is probably right, although just a few years ago I would have disagreed entirely … right, have had my grumpy say…. where’s my medication!!!!

  3. Well this is my experience here is Alberta, Canada. Although I offer Blu-ray at the same price, most people order DVD. I also provide HD 1080p downloads but virtually no one buys them. I almost exclusively shoot live theatre, concerts, and dance recitals. Gerry in Calgary

  4. Different countries, different needs.
    I’m running a video production company in China and still own a pile a fresh dvd waiting to be used since 5 years.. 100% of my customer are happy with download and memory stick. We are doing a lot of corporate video and photography.
    Maybe Adobe was not that wrong.

    To my experience, burned DVD lifespan is about about 10 years max anyway. People start to notice it and are making digital copies to keep their precious memories.
    They can send it by email, share it with their phone, play with their computer or tablet without bothering having a large and fragile disk.

    One new things also appear it the complete disappearance of the title safe zone now, as all is played in a digital internet world, there is less need to follow these rules. Even big companies are fine with a title at the border of the screen, impossible to be played on old TV.

  5. I think the point with Adobe is what else could they do with Encore – it does what it says on the box and Encore CS6 is still available for download via creative cloud.

    HDW : It never got beyond its basic package, DVD Studio from Apple was so more user-friendly but Apple dropped it like a stone.
    Motion menus in Encore are a nightmare.

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